WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 381: Interlude: After the Thunder God Comes the Progenitor

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There were several reasons Shei disguised herself as a man.

The first was to safely fall into Tantalus in this cycle. Since she did not know the exact trigger required to reach Tantalus, she needed the military state to capture her and drop her in. However, it would have been foolish to disarm and surrender to them willingly. So she chose to summon someone with the authority to make it happen.

That person was Absolute Spear Partlaxion, a knight of the old kingdom and the military state's northern commander, who revered duels. Shei defeated the military state's soldiers one by one to provoke Partlaxion, and he charged over to duel her.

That was all she needed. Partlaxion loved duels, but he had no interest in taking lives or property over them. If she fought him for a while and let him see that she wanted to face strong opponents in Tantalus, he would laugh heartily and personally throw her in. Still, he had a daughter around Shei's age, so things would have been difficult if she had not dressed as a man. Middle-aged men were endlessly weak to girls their daughters' age.

The second reason was more fundamental. Shei simply found dressing as a man more convenient.

This was a world where chosen prophets, Holy Maidens, openly existed. If Shei, a regressor, acted as though she knew the future, people would naturally mistake her for a Holy Maiden. Perhaps it was not a mistake at all, but being a Holy Maiden was hardly a useful identity for someone like Shei, who needed to uncover every kind of secret. To avoid pursuit or keep others from becoming wary of her, Shei often changed her appearance and clothing.

The Mask of Agartha was for that purpose.

It was a treasure acquired in the savage lands far to the south, where countless tribes were scattered in every direction. Wearing it allowed her to change the impression she gave without much effort. That was how Shei changed identities so often.

Yet even the Mask of Agartha was not all-powerful. It merely planted an impression and made others believe it. In the end, it was still a matter of perception and belief. Once something was plainly exposed, as it was now, the mask became useless.

She had been exposed at a bad time, by the worst possible person. Pulling her torn collar closed, Shei opened her mouth.

"No. This is..."

"It is all right, Shei. You need not make excuses."

Surprisingly, Tyrkanzyaka was the first to dismiss it as nothing significant. She lowered her parasol slightly and gave a quiet sigh.

"So that is why your blood tasted so good. There were several other suspicious details as well, but this clears up most of them."

"Uh, are you okay with this?"

"It is bewildering, but what difference does it make? Does it make sense for one man to like another? A woman dressed as a man is far more plausible."

"That's really not what happened!"

"A misunderstanding? If liking men is a misunderstanding, then do you like women after all? Could it be that the way you acted warmly toward me, the princess, and the Thunder Lord was also...?"

"No, no, no! That's not what I meant!"

Even as she desperately explained herself, Shei felt relieved. Tyrkanzyaka seemed completely unfazed by the incident. Her emotions did not fluctuate much, so it was hard to imagine her suddenly changing her attitude over this.

Hilde spoke up.

"You are rather lacking in sensitivity! These days, men date men and women date women! Dressing as a man is even stranger!"

"...? Then they cannot have children."

"You shouldn't get hung up on such trivial things! Love isn't only for having children, is it?"

"That is true. Even vampires have feelings of affection... Hmm. This does not seem like the time for this discussion."

Tyrkanzyaka stopped mid-sentence and rebuked Hilde as though she found her tiresome.

"How ridiculous. Because things did not go as you wished, did you think that a few words from you would make my attitude turn over like the palm of a hand?"

"Oh my. This is a little unexpected."

"Would it do for a sea of blood to ripple so easily? I stopped being foolish enough to be deceived and swayed by a cunning remark over a thousand years ago."

Vampires might be naturally insensitive, but anyone who had lived through a thousand years became dull beyond mere insensitivity. It was not simply a matter of the senses, but of all they had experienced and accumulated.

"I know it. The arrogance of those who shape the future they have seen. The displeasure that comes when they try to bring that future into being. Hilde, perhaps it is disappointing for you, but I do not feel that displeasure from Shei..."

Tyrkanzyaka paused to choose her words.

"Is that really so? She definitely acted as though she knew everything, didn't she?"

"...I will not deny there were times I wanted to strike her. Still, I did not sense that revolting arrogance from her."

As Tyr tried to recall pleasant memories, Hilde asked again.

"Really? She clearly knows the future and possesses even the Celestial God's treasures. Skywarbler and Rene's pouch. Who else could have those besides the Sanctum?"

"Is she not trying to resist the future? From Shei, that will comes before the arrogance of a prophet. Is what she has done before me, and what she will do from now on, not more important than what she truly is?"

Relief spread from Shei's fingertips. What she had built up until now had not been in vain. Shei had made an effort, and Tyrkanzyaka trusted her.

Of course she did. At the end of the world, Shei had run everywhere, embracing both light and darkness. In particular, after saving the Healer Sage and traveling with her, she had even formed ties with vampires she had once considered nothing but enemies and helped them. Those ties should have been enough...

...But when had this tie come to exist?

As Shei suddenly looked back on it, Tyrkanzyaka smiled kindly.

"Then tell me just one thing. If you do, I shall remain by your side."

No matter how kind she looked, she was Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka. The Sanctum's nemesis and the Shadow Queen. She had lived that way for over a thousand years. Traveling with Shei and Hughes for a short time would not change her nature.

As she herself had said, the sea was calm. A sea of blood was not swept away by a momentary storm. Spending a few days with Shei would not change who she was.

"Shei. When I march upon the Sanctum in blood, help me cut off the Holy Maiden's head."

Shei froze for a moment at the chilling proposal. Pretending not to notice, Tyrkanzyaka continued softly.

"I am not asking you to bear everything. I do not wish to burden you so greatly. But one alone will be enough. Do you have the will to do it?"

Shei understood at once. This was a test, no, an opportunity. Tyrkanzyaka was giving her one last chance to lie and claim she was on her side.

Even if Shei nodded, it did not mean she would immediately have to attack a Holy Maiden. How long would it take before a Holy Maiden and Tyrkanzyaka faced one another directly? Perhaps it would never happen before the King of Sin appeared.

There was a way to escape this predicament. She only had to nod or take the vampires' side for this cycle alone.

But...

Shei's mouth moved on its own.

"I can't."

The corner of Tyrkanzyaka's mouth slowly stiffened like dried blood, but Shei had no choice.

A lie could get her out of this situation right now. Yet the Sanctum had helped Shei many times. Having received their help and grown attached to them, Shei had no intention of casting them aside in the future she hoped to reach.

"I'm going to stop the apocalypse that will come in the future. The Sanctum and the Holy Maidens are our greatest allies. It'll be difficult without their help, and I don't want to do that."

Honesty was not necessarily a virtue. A sweet lie might have brought about a better result.

Yet Shei could not help but be honest. She was not skilled enough to show everyone a different face in every cycle while still holding on to herself through it all.

Tyrkanzyaka knew that. That was why she had asked.

This was exactly as Hilde had designed it. Hilde must have known from the start that, because of their personalities, the two of them would inevitably clash.

"Is that so..."

Tyrkanzyaka let out a small sigh. With it, she severed the last trace of affection.

It was not as though she felt no regret, but it was something she had done countless times over a thousand years. Not with resolve, only familiarity.

Just like that, the emotion ended. Tyrkanzyaka looked at Shei with calm eyes.

"This is as far as we go. It was quite enjoyable."

She started to turn as though shaking off those feelings. Shei urgently called out to her.

"Wait. Hold on. Once the apocalypse comes, all of that will end too!"

"That is also a prophecy, is it not? Unless you have the will to turn your back on prophecy, it will eventually bind you and repeat. I am giving you serious advice."

"No, it's true! The King of Sin will kill everything! You, me, even Hughes! Are you saying that's fine...?!"

At that moment, Tyrkanzyaka glared at Shei, and black energy poured down like a waterfall. Shei raised her arm to shield her face.

It was not particularly threatening, but the rejection behind it came through clearly. Tyrkanzyaka warned the motionless Shei in a low voice.

"Do not speak Hyu's name. A moment ago, you abandoned Hyu by your own choice."

"What are you talking about? I've never abandoned him! He's not even a vampire."

"No. You do not know it, but you certainly did."

"What are you talking about?!"

Shei did not know that Hughes was the King of Humanity. It had already become an open secret, but Tyrkanzyaka had no wish to tell her.

Having fought the Sanctum directly, Tyrkanzyaka believed in the existence of prophecy itself. But she did not believe its contents. A prophecy might be true, but there was no certainty that those conveying it would speak only the truth.

She trusted Shei as a person because Shei had acted consistently. Shei's words existed as nothing more than words, not truth. Tyrkanzyaka had clearly separated the two as she traveled with her.

There was also something Tyrkanzyaka had learned during their journey.

The King of Sin Shei sought to stop might be the King of Humanity. And Hughes was probably the King of Humanity.

Long ago, the Five Lords were said to have killed the King of Humanity and divided the king's power among themselves. If that legend was true, then perhaps the King of Sin was only slander, or perhaps the Sanctum simply feared the King's return.

If Shei had even the slightest connection to the Sanctum, then Tyrkanzyaka had to distance herself from Shei, whether she liked it or not, for Hughes's sake. If Shei tried to kill Hughes in advance, Tyrkanzyaka would have no way to save him unless she turned him into a vampire. Along with her hatred for the Sanctum, and to protect someone precious to her, Tyrkanzyaka spoke with the same mockery she used toward prophets.

"Why don't you find out with that marvelous precognition of yours?"

"It isn't precognition... Hmph. I can just meet him and talk to him! Where is Hughes?"

Perhaps he could resolve this situation. Perhaps he would mediate everyone with that carefree smile of his. Shei spoke his name with a faint hope.

Tyrkanzyaka fiercely swung her parasol. Like black ink swallowing the world, violent darkness surged along its path. This time, it was clearly an attack meant as a threat. Shei had no choice but to counter with Skywarbler. Skywarbler, having swallowed lightning, tore through the darkness with a clap of thunder.

Tyr's voice came through the scattering darkness and rumbling thunder.

"If you truly abandon us and follow the Sanctum."

"I don't intend to...!"

A pale hand reached toward Shei as she replied. Tyrkanzyaka's hand. It was far faster than Shei had expected.

Since recovering her heart, Tyrkanzyaka had been unable to extend bloodcraft beyond her body. In exchange, she had gained terrifying physical strength, as though all that power had been converted into internal energy. Instinctively sensing that it would be dangerous if that hand caught her, Shei reflexively reached out with her other hand.

Jizan. A sword without recoil. The Great Master's relic that only the worthy could wield. Shei lightly knocked aside the hand reaching for her with Jizan. That was all, yet a heavy impact ran up her arm with a thump.

Above the crouching Shei, two crimson eyes glowed in the darkness. Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka was looking down at her.

With unmistakable hostility.

"I shall carve into your body what it means to become my enemy."

She had faced Tyrkanzyaka once before. Tyrkanzyaka had been under Finlay's control then, but her power had still been unbearable. The black knights she commanded were practically endless. She forced an attritional battle with nearly limitless resources, and even reaching her true body offered no real means of harming her.

Back then, she had only been moving under the control of a lowly vampire, and she had returned easily because Hughes thought of using an electric shock... But what about now, when she possessed a complete will of her own? What if even her true body was dangerous?

Even so.

"...Bring it on!"

Skywarbler, Jizan, and the Thunder God existed to face powerful enemies. Shei swung Jizan in a circle and knocked Tyrkanzyaka's arm aside. No matter how strong she was, she could not resist the earth itself. As Tyrkanzyaka was thrown back, Shei shouted in frustration.

"Stop being so stubborn! I need you! The Sanctum, Azzy, Hughes, all of you! Otherwise, no one will survive after this!"

"You have only two hands. To gain one more thing, you must put down what you already hold. That is the way of the world."

"What kind of principle exists in this damned world? It'll all end if I don't force everything together!"

"Then let us call it my selfish heart. I am jealous, and I do not wish to be with others."

She had said it to mock Shei, yet the image that briefly crossed Tyrkanzyaka's mind was Hughes speaking openly with Shei. She had never made it obvious, but she instinctively knew he had always cared about Shei. Until now, she had believed they were both men. But now that Shei had been revealed as a woman...

"I shall have an ugly lover's quarrel."

With a trace of sincerity, Tyrkanzyaka stomped down hard.

There was a technique called a ground-shaking step. The instant one stepped down, energy was driven into the ground, sending its shock through the earth itself. Without exceptional control, only one's foot would sink into the ground, or the sole would burst from the force.

Tyrkanzyaka succeeded through an astonishing method.

Unable to withstand the overwhelming force, her sole burst apart for an instant. It was truly only an instant. Tyrkanzyaka's true blood returned to its place as though nothing had happened, for she possessed absolute authority over all blood.

But that instant was enough.

Enough to spread the shock through the entire lightning rod tower.

The lightning rod tower could easily divert lightning, but the Progenitor's blood energy was far too powerful.

Rumble.

The lightning rod tower, beneath the descending sea of blood, began to tilt.

Footnotes:

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